Our Lady of the Dormition

Marian devotion of Jerusalem (Jerusalem)

La "Sleep of Mary" It is an ancient Christian tradition that claims that the Virgin would have completed her earthly life in Jerusalem, on Mount Zion, where she "fell asleep" in the Lord, while her body was later taken to the valley of Josafat (Gethsemane), where her grave was venerated. This tradition, assumed in the East from the first centuries and also extended in the West, distinguishes between the place of Sleep (Sión) y el de la Tomb of Mary (Getsemani).

Main data

Origin and history

La "Sleep of Mary" It is an ancient Christian tradition that claims that the Virgin would have completed her earthly life in Jerusalem, on Mount Zion, where she "fell asleep" in the Lord, while her body was later taken to the valley of Josafat (Gethsemane), where her grave was venerated. This tradition, assumed in the East from the first centuries and also extended in the West, distinguishes between the place of Sleep (Sión) y el de la Tomb of Mary (Getsemani).

In the place of sleep the Abbey of the Sleeping of Santa Maria (Dormitio Beatae Mariae Virginis), a Benedictine monastery founded in the late 19th and early 20th century by the Benedictine Congregation of Beuron, on grounds granted by the Emperor William II of Germany in 1898. The present basilica was built between 1900 and 1910 and consecrated in 1910. The temple recalls liturgically the mystery of the "transit" or sleeping of the Virgin, without the existence of a contemporary historical document to the facts of Mary's life that directly testifies to it; it is therefore a question of a venerable tradition supported by ancient apocryphal and patristic sources, but not historically verifiable data in the modern sense.

In the nearby Tomb of Mary In Gethsemane - guarded by Greek-Orthodox and Armenian religious - the empty tomb of the Virgin, a particularly significant place for the Eastern Rite Churches, is venerated according to the same tradition. Both the Abbey of the Sleep in Zion and the sanctuary of the Tomb of Mary in Gethsemane are part of the main Marian places of the The Holy Land, shared by Catholics and Orthodox.

The image and the sanctuary

En la Abbey of the Sleep (Hagia Maria Sion), the central devotional element is not an image of isolated size, but the iconographic set who remembers the transit of the Virgin. In the crypt of the basilica is a great lying sculpture of Mary, represented as asleep, surrounded by mosaics with figures of biblical women and local churches, in neo-Byzantine style. The image shows Mary lying, with a serene face, underlining the dimension of "dream" and hope in the resurrection; in the photographs and descriptions available it is seen that it is a modern work, typical of the construction of the 20th century, probably in stone or polychrome wood, located at the center of the crypt as the focus of veneration.

The sanctuary is officially called Abbey of the Sleeping of Santa Maria o Dormitio Abbey, a Benedictine monastery that includes the upper basilica, the crypt and monastic dependencies. The church presents a style neorromanic with oriental influences, central plant with dome, Byzantine-inspired mosaics and a rich Marian decoration. It is located on Mount Zion, near the Upper Room, within the perimeter of the old city of Jerusalem. It is not clear that the basilica has received the title of minor basilica nor the formal recognition of National sanctuaryIt is, rather, an important Marian and monastic sanctuary of the Catholic Church in The Holy Land, of international relevance for its location in Jerusalem.

Next to this abbey, Church of the Tomb of the Virgin in Gethsemane, mainly belonging to the Orthodox Churches, retains an icon of the Sleep on the alleged tomb. There, iconography follows the traditional oriental scheme of the Sleeping of the Theotokos: Lying Mary surrounded by the apostles and Christ holding the soul of her Mother, represented as a child wrapped in luminous blankets. This sanctuary, although not Catholic in its title, is part of the same devotional sphere as Our Lady of the Sleep and the Tomb of Mary.

Sponsorship and coronation

No consta que Our Lady of Sleep (Hagia Mary Zion, Jerusalem) haya sido proclamada official employer of the city of Jerusalem, of a specific diocese or of a nation in the usual legal terms of canon patronage. The abbey is under the jurisdiction of the Custody of the Holy Land y del Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalemand its importance is more of a universal and ecumenical character, associated with the mystery of the end of Mary's earthly life and her assumption.

On the canonical coronation of a specific image under this advocation in the Abbey of Sleep, does not contain a documented canonical coronation issued by a Pontifical Decree or by a delegate of the Holy See. In the eastern context, veneration is expressed mainly by icons and liturgy specific to the Feast of Sleep / Assumption, rather than by canonical coronations in the Latin style.

Party and devotion

The liturgical feast directly linked to this advocation is that of the Sleeping of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrada el August 15 in the churches of Byzantine rite, where the aspect of "transit" and sleep is emphasized, coinciding with the solemnity of the Mary's Assumption to Heaven in the Latin Roman calendar. In Jerusalem and in the Abbey of the Sleep, this date brings together an intense liturgical activity and pilgrimages, both of Catholics and of the faithful of other Christian denominations, that travel through the Marian places of Zion and Gethsemane.

Devotion is expressed through:

– Peregrinaciones a la Abbey of Sleep para participar en la Eucaristía, la Liturgia de las Horas y vigilias marianas, especialmente en torno al 15 de agosto. – Visitas a la Tomb of Mary en Getsemaní, donde los fieles, sobre todo de rito oriental, acuden en procesiones, llevan velas y veneran el icono de la Dormición. – Una fuerte dimensión ecuménica, since the Sleep / Assumption is one of the great Marian mysteries shared by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, with rich liturgical and homily tradition.

Precise statistics on the number of visitors to this particular Marian devotion are not available; however, reports on pilgrimages to the Holy Land and Jerusalem indicate that it is one of the city's main Marian routes, along with Nazareth and the Holy Sepulchre.

Link to the Rosary

No consta una specific tradition which particularly links the invocation of Our Lady of Sleep in Hagia Mary Sion with a specific form of prayer of the Rosary (for example, historical co-fradies of the Rosary founded there, particular promises or singular indulgences linked to this image). The devotion in the sanctuary focuses above all on the monastic liturgy, the celebrations of the Sleep / Assumption and the pilgrimage to the holy places of Jerusalem.

However, the Rosary - which the Magisterium has called "compendium of the whole Gospel" - naturally accompanies the contemplation of this advocation. By meditating on the glorious mysteriesthe faithful enter into the dynamism of the Resurrection, la Ascension, la Coming from the Holy Spirit y culmina en la Assumption of Mary y su Coronation as Queen of heavenwho synthesize the truth of faith expressed in the Sleep: Mary, fully associated with the Passover of Christ, already participates in the glory to which the whole Church is called.

Recite the Rosary before the image of the "asleep" Virgin in the crypt of the Dormition Abbey, or in spiritual communion